Yone Noguchi’s short lyric places the speaker between a series of bright, balanced opposites: green mountains and yellow sunlight, a white river and red flowers. Winds, girls, and the moon move through the middle, all described as “laughing,” which gives the scene a playful, gently joyful mood. The repeated right-left pattern creates a feeling of being surrounded by beauty while also being poised between choices. In the final lines, those choices become more symbolic—one path leads toward poetry, the other toward love. Instead of choosing either, the speaker hurries home “by the road between.” The overall feeling is calm and light, as if balance matters more than picking a side.
Right and Left — Summary
The mountain green at my right : The sunlight yellow at my left : The laughing winds pass between,
The river white at my left : The flowers red at my right : The laughing girls go between.
The clouds sail away at my right ; The birds flap down at my left : The laughing moon appears between.
I turned left to the dale of poem ; I turned right to the forest of Love : But I hurry Home by the road between.